Electric solar wind sail mass budget model

Abstract

Abstract. The electric solar wind sail (E-sail) is a new type of propellantless propulsion system for Solar System transportation, which uses the natural solar wind to produce spacecraft propulsion. The E-sail consists of thin centrifugally stretched tethers that are kept charged by an onboard electron gun and, as such, experience Coulomb drag through the high-speed solar wind plasma stream. This paper discusses a mass breakdown and a performance model for an E-sail spacecraft that hosts a mission-specific payload of prescribed mass. In particular, the model is able to estimate the total spacecraft mass and its propulsive acceleration as a function of various design parameters such as the number of tethers and their length. A number of subsystem masses are calculated assuming existing or near-term E-sail technology. In light of the obtained performance estimates, an Esail represents a promising propulsion system for a variety of transportation needs in the Solar System.

Flight Dynamics and Control Strategy of Electric Solar Wind Sails

“…2a, where the main and auxiliary tethers are divided into multiple two-node straight finite elements and modeled by the nodal position finite element method (NPFEM) [22,34,35]. Each tether element is assumed as a tensile member only with zero compressive stiffness due to the incompressibility of E-sail tethers [13]. Since the length of main tethers is several orders of magnitude greater than the size of the central spacecraft hub and remote units, the central spacecraft hub and remote units are modeled as lumped masses with attitude dynamics ignored [14].…”

“…Thus, the E-sail takes advantage of solar sails [11] and solar wind magnetic sails [12] while avoiding their disadvantages -faster decade rates. This makes the E-sail a competitive alternative to the solar and magnetic sails in terms of lightweight [13], propellantless [1], longer operational life [3], and superior maneuverability [14]. The current work focuses on the attitude dynamics and control of E-sail.…”

“…For the non-rigid solar photon sail, attitude control methods based on the shift of CP have been proposed, such as the reflectivity control device (RCD) method [20] and the blade device method [21]. Considering the fact that the diameter of each main tether is at the micrometer level and the spin plane of E-sail is held only by the centrifugal force in tethers and tip masses, the flexibility of tether can play a significant role in the dynamics of E-sail [13]. Therefore, as shown in Fig.…”

Neptune and Triton: Essential pieces of the Solar System puzzle

“…An RTG lifetime comparable to the interplanetary transfer time leads to a third enabling technology for a Neptune orbiter mission. Options to reduce the interplanetary transfer time are an SEP module, an Electric Sail (E-sail) (Janhunen et al, 2013), and aerocapture at Neptune Orbit Insertion (NOI). The option with the highest TRL is SEP, which would provide large Delta-V with small propellant mass in the earlier part of an interplanetary transfer to Neptune, before module ejection prior to NOI.…”

Design and pre-flight testing of the electrical power system for the ESTCube-1 nanosatellite

“…The satellite's main mission is a test of technologies required for the Electric Solar Wind Sail concept [3][4][5] that involves unreeling of a thin 10 m long conductive tether [1,6,7] in a circular sun-synchronous midday-midnight polar low Earth orbit (LEO) with the altitude of 660 km, charging it to a high voltage of 500 V, and measuring its interaction with atmospheric plasma.…”